Along with an increase in screen size of and thinning of displays, not only have TVs been used to merely view broadcast contents, but also there has been an increasing possibility for new usage of the TVs such as simultaneous use of information items and browsing a large amount of information.
It is necessary to design more complex functions for simple use, in order to allow not only conventional programs and movies to be viewed but also the above new usage to be realized. For this purpose, it is necessary to realize an autonomous operation method which reduces an amount of explicit operation and operational load of a user by understanding a situation or intention of the user and anticipating an operation of the user based on a new operation method which allows an intuitive operation and user sensing information. In addition, it is desirable to employ an input method and an operation system assuming operations by multiple people, so as to be compatible with usage for not only passive viewing but also other purposes, while taking advantage of features of a TV set up in a common space of a family such as a living room.
Under these circumstances, as the new operation method, input devices have been developed which make it possible to input information desired by a user making a simple hand gesture or a gesture, without an apparatus such as a remote control being held by the user and without equipping a special apparatus. For example, an apparatus is known which issues a command for stop, slow movement or fast movement depending on a range of a hand movement of a user (see Patent Literature 1). In addition, there is an apparatus which displays, in the case where a touch panel of the apparatus detects that a hand of a user touches or approaches a ball moving within a screen, an image previously associated with the ball, so as to attract an interest of the user to the image displayed on the screen (see Patent Literature 2).